But so wisheth our type; and I love those who do not wish to preserve
themselves, the down-going ones do I love with mine entire love: for
they go beyond.—
7.
To be true—that CAN few be! And he who can, will not! Least of all,
however, can the good be true.
Oh, those good ones! GOOD MEN NEVER SPEAK THE TRUTH. For the spirit,
thus to be good, is a malady.
They yield, those good ones, they submit themselves; their heart
repeateth, their soul obeyeth: HE, however, who obeyeth, DOTH NOT LISTEN
TO HIMSELF!
All that is called evil by the good, must come together in order that
one truth may be born. O my brethren, are ye also evil enough for THIS
truth?
The daring venture, the prolonged distrust, the cruel Nay, the tedium,
the cutting-into-the-quick—how seldom do THESE come together! Out of
such seed, however—is truth produced!
BESIDE the bad conscience hath hitherto grown all KNOWLEDGE! Break up,
break up, ye discerning ones, the old tables!
8.
When the water hath planks, when gangways and railings o’erspan the
stream, verily, he is not believed who then saith: “All is in flux.”
But even the simpletons contradict him. “What?” say the simpletons, “all
in flux? Planks and railings are still OVER the stream!
“OVER the stream all is stable, all the values of things, the bridges
and bearings, all ‘good’ and ‘evil’: these are all STABLE!”—
Cometh, however, the hard winter, the stream-tamer, then learn even the
wittiest distrust, and verily, not only the simpletons then say: “Should
not everything—STAND STILL?”
“Fundamentally standeth everything still”—that is an appropriate winter
doctrine, good cheer for an unproductive period, a great comfort for
winter-sleepers and fireside-loungers.
“Fundamentally standeth everything still”—: but CONTRARY thereto,
preacheth the thawing wind!
The thawing wind, a bullock, which is no ploughing bullock—a furious
bullock, a destroyer, which with angry horns breaketh the ice! The ice
however—BREAKETH GANGWAYS!
O my brethren, is not everything AT PRESENT IN FLUX? Have not all
railings and gangways fallen into the water? Who would still HOLD ON to
“good” and “evil”?
“Woe to us! Hail to us! The thawing wind bloweth!”—Thus preach, my
brethren, through all the streets!
9.
There is an old illusion—it is called good and evil. Around soothsayers
and astrologers hath hitherto revolved the orbit of this illusion.
Once did one BELIEVE in soothsayers and astrologers; and THEREFORE did
one believe, “Everything is fate: thou shalt, for thou must!”
Then again did one distrust all soothsayers and astrologers; and
THEREFORE did one believe, “Everything is freedom: thou canst, for thou
willest!”
O my brethren, concerning the stars and the future there hath hitherto
been only illusion, and not knowledge; and THEREFORE concerning good and
evil there hath hitherto been only illusion and not knowledge!
10.